Bottle capper



July 20, 1937. A. c. GOUGH 2,087,251

' BOTTLE cAPPER I Filed June 22, 1935 25heets-Sheet 1 July 20, 1937. A. c. GOUGH I BOTTLE CAPPER Filed June 22, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 20, 1937 PATENT OFFICE 2,087,251 BOTTLE CAPPER Arthur C. Gough, Fitchburg, Mass., assignor to Cowdrey Products Company, Inc., Fitchburg, Mass., a corporafion of Massachusetts Application June 22,

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for capping milk bottles especially but capable of use for capping other bottles and receptacles on which a paper cap is used.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide a method of capping milk bottles which consists in placing a fluted edged paper or other flexible cap on a bottle, bringing a casing, having an opening for receiving the head of the bottle, equipped with means for turning the cap on the bottle, down around the circumference of the,

cap; to provide a telescoping casing for supporting the cap turning means of such a nature that, when brought down on the top of the cap, a plunger will rest on the top of it to hold it; to providegneans whereby the two parts of the telescopingcasing will be forced together by further I downward pressure so as to operate levers which carry shaping ends or tools for operating on the lower part of the surrounding periphery of the cap tobring the same down to its final condition against the neck of the bottle; to provide the said casing with a toothed conical surface, or opposite pins, for engaging the flutes in the periphery of the bottle cap for the purpose of turning it, and to provide a suitable cam for operating the said levers.

Other objects and advantages of the will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of a preferred form of this invention in which it is shown as a hand-operated device located above the milk bottle which is arranged with its cap in a position ready to be operated on; 1

invention Fig. 2 is a diametrical sectional view of the entire tool showing the first step of the operation;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the next step of the operation; i

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view as indicated by the arrow 4 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig;

Fig. 6 is an elevation of one of the levers for performing the final pressing down operation;

Fig. 7 is a plan .of a paper milk bottle cap as it is constructed ready to apply to a bottle, and

- ification.

Thislinvention is intended to be applied particularly to milk bottles each of which is supplied with a paper or flexible cap l0 having its edge turned down in a truncated cone, as indicated in Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig, 4 showing a mod- 1935, Serial No. 27,995

Fig. l, and previously shaped in the form of a circular series of flutes II which are provided with triangular surfaces I2 arranged substantially radial and ending in a peak I 3 extending down at an angle so that all these peaks are located in an imaginary conical surface. A surface M from each one of the peaks back to the bottom of the next-radial surface I2 is slanted from the peak I3 back to the next surface l2 at a point nearer the center, forming a trough l5. These troughs also are located in a conical surface coinciding at the top with the conical surface including the peaks I 3 and spaced inwardly from them at the bottom. The cap preferably is provided with an embedded soft metal wire 9 which will hold these flutes in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 7 ready to apply to the bottle and will also hold them in finally contracted position around the neck of the bottle.

In the operation of the device, one of these caps I0 is placed on the top of a milk bottle, as shown in Fig. 1, and the tool which is to shape it is lowered down on it as indicated by the arrow in that figure, although it is not essential that the bottle be placed in vertical position. This tool 2 outside it. It is on this cap that the handle I6 is 7 mounted. The bottom of the casing I! has an opening l9 which is provided with teeth 20 slanting and having the same general shape as the flutes on the paper bottle cap that have been described. It will be seen that each tooth is provided with a triangular radial surface 2|- which has an edge 22 nearer the center that is slanting and therefore all these edges are in an imaginary cone. The inner side 24 extending outwardly from the bottom of the radial surface 2| in each case is also on an incline and is nearly rectangular. These surfaces 24, bearing against the surface 14 of the milk bottle cap, will turn this cap when the casing is brought down vertically from'the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2, unless the cap is already located 5 The . carried by the cap I8.

the bottle neck and in contact therewith by said levers.

For the purpose of holding the bottle cap in position, a plunger 25, in the form of a circular plate, is provided mounted on a rod 26 which is pressed bya spring 21 hearing on the cap 18 at one end so that it holds the bottle cap and yields as the casing descends. This rod has a cross-pin 21a which operates in a pair of vertical slots 28 ina hollow cylinder 39. A partition 39 is fixed to the casing I! by pins 3|. On the partition 30 are pivoted at 32 a circular series of levers 33 which have forming surfaces 34.

As the casing l1 descends still further, rolls 35 on the levers 33 will engage a conical cam 36 fixedly mounted with respect to a cylinder 31 This pushes the levers inwardly at the bottom and the shaped surfaces 34 come into contact with the peaks of the flutes on the paper bottle cap, as shown in Fig. 3, to.

press them down into a position to fix the bottle cap on the bottle. It is to cause the peaks of -down here and these shaping surfaces 34 will press the flutes still further in so that they will fit tightly against the neck of the bottle. It will be held there by the wire which has been mentioned.

When the parts reach the position shown in Fig. 3, the rod 21a comes up against the top of the slots 28 in the hollow cylinder 39. Between these two cylinders 31 and 39 is a spring 40 which tends to force the cylinder 39 downwardly. Around the levers 33 is a circular coil spring 4| which holds the rolls 35 against the cam 36.

The operation will be apparent from reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3. In Fig. 1 the casing I! has not yet come down into contact with the bottle cap but when it does the parts reach the posi- .tion in Fig. 2. It will be noticed that the springs 40 and 21 have not yet yielded. However, the paper cap has been turned to the right positionafor registration with the shaping surfaces 34 and the plunger 25 islocated on the cap.

I The parts I! and I8 have not commenced to Y telescope but now that the plunger is in contact 50- with the bottle, the further depression of the handle "5 will cause this telescoping action to commence and it will be carried through the different stages until it reaches that shown in Fig. 3 and it still has a little further to go as explained.

This constitutes an effective device for registering by a slight rotation and shaping the milk bottle cap to its final condition by asingle motion downward of the handle l6 and cap l8.

,In Fig. 8 is shown a modification in which two opposite pins 42 are used instead of a circular series of teeth. These pins have slanting surfaces 43 similar to the teeth and radialsurfaces 44 for turning the cap. g

Having thus described my'invention and-the advantages tthereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim' is:-

1 1. As an article of manufacture, a. bottl capping device comprising a casing adapted to be moved over the top of a bottle having a paper cap thereon, said casing having a circular opening for receiving the head of the bottle, the opening having an inner surface formed of a series of inwardly projecting teeth, each tooth comprising a triangular radial surface slanting outwardly and a nearly circumferential, nearly rectangular, surface slanting outwardly toward the extreme end of the casing.

2. In a bottle capping device, the combination of a telescoping casing and cap, cap pressing means in the casing, means whereby, when the casing and cap are given a relative telescoping movement, said means will be operated to compress. a fluted bottle cap at its outer edge, and means for first turning said cap to a position in which the flutes thereon register with said means.

3. In a bottle capping device, the combination of a casing made up of two parts telescopically connected, a series of levers circularly located in the casing and having surfaces for-pressing inwardly the edges of a 'fiuted paper bottle cap, means for swinging said levers into final pressing position upon a telescoping motion of the two parts of the casing, and means for turning the bottle cap, by a rectilinear motion of one of said parts, into a position in which the flutes register with said levers so as to be pressed inwardly thereby.

4. In a bottle capping device, the combination of a casing having a cap telescopically connected therewith, the casing having an opening in the end provided with a configuration comprising operating said levers, when the casing cap is forced further toward the bottle, to press down the flutes of the bottle cap into their final position 5. As an article of manufacture, a bottle capping device comprising a casing having an opening in the end provided with circumferentially inclined surfaces shaped to engage the inclined flutes of a fluted paper bottle cap on a ARTHUR C. GOUGH. 

